All Adventures are Dangerous
by Inspired Demon of Fiction
Summary: Immediately after the end of the fourth series, essentially. The Doctor finds himself on a spaceship with a time and space portal what else is new? . Adventure ensues including the finding of a new companion and a reunion with an old friend… sort-of.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** 'Allo! I see you've found my precious baby that I spent, oh a year of my life creating (actually, it's probably closer to 9 months... O_o, odd that). Anyway, this was written for an LJ challenge I heard about when I was actually about half-way through writing this and I said to myself "If I'm working so damn hard on this, I should really get something for it." and the fact that I was now obliged to finish helping me keep going. As a result, I am now (finally!) allowed to show my bright and beautiful baby to the world as well as these other profits. The LJ challenge also included artists who not only made pretty pictures for me but also A SOUNDTRACK! Can you believe it? Someone actually composed for my story! And since I have now impressed all of you with these outlandish ideas, here is where the actual credit is due...  
The Cover: /Round2/03-adventures_  
Illustration for Chapter 2: /Round2/03-adventures_  
Soundtrack (of Awesome): .?view=270706#t270706

So, diclaimer now, right? Most characters belong to BBC Wales, Russell T Davies, and their actors, I own nothing. Oh, I'd also like to say that the Torchwood part of this fic doesn't come up until the very end (Chapter... 19-ish). Sorry Torchwood fans, I know you're disappointed, but I promise they play a very big part at the end! :)

**Chapter 1:**

The Doctor leapt about the TARDIS, twisting a knob here, clunking something into place there, then glanced up, realized he was alone, and sighed sadly. He hated being alone, he really did; still, he couldn't force himself on anyone, it wouldn't be fair.

But those were thoughts for another time; in the meanwhile he had to get somewhere… which was wherever he was going. With a bang that rocked the whole blue box and its far larger insides, the TARDIS landed.

The Doctor stuck his head out curiously and found himself aboard a ship. He looked around quizzically and stepped all the way out, it seemed abandoned, which was an all too familiar set up. He took a few steps about, "Okay, the only way this could get any more déjà vu-y is if there was a time portal somewhere around…" and speak of the devil, "here."

The Doctor gaped stupidly for a moment, then glared at it, "Oh come on, not again!" He drew his sonic screwdriver and peered into the portal, nothing; there was just blackness on the other side.

"What?" he frowned and shown the blue light of the screwdriver into it; still nothing. The Doctor pursed his lips as he weighed his options, on the one hand he could go back to the TARDIS and try a new location, or on the other, he could jump head first into the blackness and face whatever adventure awaited him there.

Inevitably, he chose the latter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Have you been reading? Joy! Okay, here's the second part where we _actually_ get into the story... (see Chapter 1 for awesome illustration for this chapter)

**Disclaimer:** I only own Bree, everything else belongs to RTD as much as I resent that...

**Chapter 2:**

Bree rolled over in bed; she was tired, as usual, but couldn't sleep, as usual. "Bugger," she grumbled, and adjusted the sheets. She sighed an exhausted sigh and let her head sink slowly into the cool pillow.

At that exact moment, a rumble, thump, and bump followed shortly by an "Oh, bollocks," was sounded just beyond Bree's bed.

"What?" she sat up with a start.

"Ow… how do I always manage to hit my head?" muttered the voice that had said bollocks, "hold on."

She took this last to be directed at her and waited in trepidation, but not for long because shortly a bright blue light was pointed directly at her face, "Arg!" she winced, putting her hands up and turning her head away, "shine that somewhere else!"

"Sorry," someone apologized, now she could make out a tall profile of what she assumed to be a man, sounded like a man at any rate, "Have you got a light switch somewhere?"

"On the wall behind you," she gestured vaguely over his shoulder. "Ah, here we go!" and he flicked the switch. Bree winced again, but the light over her bed was at least less pointed directed at her. "'Allo," the man called cheerily, "oh, sorry, were you sleeping? Well that explains why it was dark…"

Bree blinked at him, not understanding a word of this, "Um… actually, I was trying to sleep, but close enough. Um, where'd you come from?"

"Good question," the man turned away from her and glanced about, "I'm not sure… seen any time-and-space portals recently?"

"No," Bree answered blankly.

"Oh well, thought I'd ask just in case… and you have a mirror on your door?" he had crouched down and withdrawn a pair of thickly rimmed black glasses from some pocket within his long brown coat and was now staring up at Bree as if she were an alien.

Bree tried very hard not to say 'pot calling the kettle black' and instead answered, "Yes, I don't really have anywhere else to put it." The man seemed to accept this answer and went back to examining it. "How long have you had this mirror?" he inquired, straightening up, and Bree again had to remark on how tall he was, and not in a bad way, not at all.

"Uh, about a year I think, why? Is its' age important?" she studied him with a frown, wondering what he was thinking. The man shrugged, "Not really, but if you had just gotten it from an unusual seller, that might tell me something, but you haven't so that leaves…" and he carefully pulled it off her door.

"Hey!" she would have leapt out of bed at this point, but she was rather aware that she was lacking pants, pants which the strange man was unfortunately standing on. The man ignored her and proceeded to shine his blue light over the back of it, as if scanning for something, but Bree could little guess how a little flashlight, albeit odd, could tell you anything.

"Now, that's interesting," he said to himself, and not quietly. It was then that Bree noticed that no one else had woken up, "Wait, why isn't the rest of my family awake?"

"What?" the man looked up at her blankly, "oh, sorry, that's probably me; I tend to have that effect on things."

"What, make the sound go dead?"

"No, make things happen the way I want them to. Well, sometimes that happens, well, a few times, well… just the once, but it was really really cool," and a huge grin spread across his face, a grin that under different circumstances Bree would have fallen in love with, but at the moment she was too bemused to take notice.

Catching her confused expression, his grin melted away, "Sorry," he muttered, and replaced the mirror.

"So," he started off with cheery excitement, "you have a time-and-space portal stuck to the back of your mirror from the very very distant future. In fact, the earth didn't even exist when they started finding these, so how did it get here?" He had removed his glasses and was now scratching his chin as he peered into it.

Bree had no idea what he was looking for because all she could see was the reflection of her room, but she was more concerned with taking this opportunity to snatch up her pajama pants and put them on so that she might question him properly. "What _are_ you looking for?" she asked, coming up beside him.

"A clue as to who sent this here, oh! Sorry, I've been so rude, but that's who I am now, so…" Bree gave him another completely blank look and the Doctor stopped. He stood up straight and cleared his throat, "I'm the Doctor," he announced pleasantly, stretching out a hand. Bree blinked up at him, but took his hand calmly, "Bree, and, Doctor of what?"

He grinned, shaking her hand vigorously, and privately thanked her for not asking Doctor who, so many jokes, so many very very old jokes, "Of everything!" he responded proudly.

Bree frowned in consternation, "Of everything? How could you be a doctor of everything?" The Doctor shrugged with a milder version of his earlier grin still in place, "I just am, kind of unique I am," and he smiled widely again, he seemed to enjoy smiling.

Bree blinked again and thought to herself, 'This must be the most insane night I have ever had _ever_. This is worse than the night we watched a marathon of _Angel _reruns until two o'clock in the morning.'

Needless to say, that night was very crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Yay! Two people are actually reading! Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate it seeing how hard I worked on this. Sorry to keep you waiting for this chapter. Link to soundtrack for this chapter found in Chapter 1.

**Disclaimer:** I only own Bree... and a few less-than-sonic screwdrivers.

**Chapter 3:**

In that pause of silence though, the Doctor noticed something, "Hold on…" he stopped shaking Bree's hand and listened very carefully. "Bree?" he asked turning about and looking towards her closet.

"Yeah?" she answered anxiously, judging by his face, something bad was about to happen.

"You wouldn't happen to be hiding a very large grandfather clock in your closet, would you?"

"Er, no."

He sighed, "Yeah, oh well, here we go again," and he withdrew his odd, blue-lighted, flashlight again. "Now, Bree, I want you to listen to me very carefully, stay behind me at all times, but I'm going to need you to help me communicate with it at first so only address it when I say and only ask it what I tell you to, got it?"

Bree was very confused, but answered promptly, "Yes."

"Good and never fear, this'll be fun!" and with that he flashed a charming grin and opened her closet door. And from her closet strode out, rather mechanically, a person. The Doctor pointed his flashlight at it in a threatening pose that even Bree felt like she wouldn't want to stand in front of.

"All right, you've shown yourself, so what're you doing here?" he demanded sharply. He noted, though, that despite being a full three hundred years into the future, they were still dressed the same, he couldn't figure out why that would be and decided to save that mystery for later.

The creature cocked its' head sharply and fixed the Doctor with a blank look, though from behind the Parisian mask it looked rather menacing. "Fine," he addressed, "Bree, now's when I need you to talk to it, first address it, see if you can get it to respond."

"But what is it?" Bree asked, "I can't address it if I don't know what it is."

The Doctor made a half-shrug, "It's just a robot," he muttered.

Bree was way out of her depth, but did as the Doctor ordered, "You, robot," she tried. And the robot responded, now straightening its' head back to look at her properly. Bree gasped finding it looking at her, "Um… what now Doctor?"

"Well, now that we know it's here for you, tell it that it must respond to all of my questions."

"Here for me?" Bree looked up at the Doctor.

"I'll explain later, but now…" and he gave her a meaningful look.

Bree coughed, "Okay, robot, answer everything that the Doctor asks."

The robot did not move, but a strange, digital voice issued from within it, "I am prepared to accept these terms."

"Right then," and the Doctor took over, tucking away his flashlight, "like I said, what're you here for, eh? Need her brain, is it? Because if that's it then I'll do you in just like I did your cousins, got that? They didn't get Reinette's brain and you're not getting Bree's."

Bree was so disconcerted by these sentences she barely even reacted.

The robot took a moment to respond, "Your statements are incorrect."

"Well then, why are you here?" the Doctor leaned forward, hands jammed in pockets.

"She is incomplete," came the automatic response.

"Oh blimey, not this again!" the Doctor leaned away, rolling his eyes, "look you nitwits, I had gathered that since she was still here there was obviously a reason why you hadn't taken her, so don't give me that. Why do you need her? Tell me."

Bree, despite the fact that she was aware that her life may hang in the balance, was rather amused by these proceedings. The robots and the Doctor evidently had a curious history together.

If the robot had been able to swallow, it would have then, and then said, "Our master needs her."

"What?! Why does he need her? Who's your master?" the Doctor was now more confused than frustrated by the answers.

The robot seemed to shift uncomfortably, but it was a halting motion, "Information is locked."

"What?!" the Doctor was starting to look perturbed.

"Information is locked," it repeated.

"How can it be locked? How… oh, hold on. Mind of a computer chip, you're being controlled by someone, your master, so they've locked part of your memory from outside sources, oh that's clever." The Doctor scratched his chin thoughtfully.

Bree was about to ask him to explain when he continued, "But I'm a time lord," and so saying, the Doctor sallied forth and placed his hand over where the temples of the robot would be.

Suddenly the robot began to jolt around and smoke, "Information is locked, information is locked," it repeated over and over again. The Doctor stepped back, "No, no, no, no, no! You can't!" But whoever was controlling the robot evidently disagreed with the Doctor and no sooner had the Doctor stepped back then the robot shorted out, collapsing at the waist.

"What happened?" Bree asked, just a teeny bit freaked out by that last part.

"It was told to self-destruct. Whoever's controlling it must not have wanted to take any chances or is just really cruel," the Doctor ran a hand through his hair, trying to think.

"Um, okay, but… what were you doing before that?"

"Me? Oh, I was trying to access the memory files, and I should've been able to get to them. How could they be locked?"

The Doctor began to pace and Bree was afraid to interrupt, but was too curious, "You… said something about being a time lord? …What's that?"

That stopped the Doctor cold, he had made a stupid blunder, "Oh no…" he murmured to himself.

"What?" Bree frowned.

The Doctor drew in a deep breath and faced Bree, preparing for the worst, "Bree… I'm an alien."

Bree blinked once, "And?"

The Doctor stared at her.

"What?"

The Doctor blinked, "You…" he started, but couldn't find words to finish his sentence.

"So what's a time lord have to do with being an alien?" Bree folded her arms to wait.

The Doctor's mouth fell open a little bit, then it clicked, "Wait a minute… you knew! The whole time you knew I was an alien!"

"Yeah, pretty much," Bree smiled at the Doctor, a little smug in fact.

"How?"

"When a man falls out of my mirror and then nonchalantly says it was because of a time-and-space portal and then introduces himself as a nameless Doctor you might start to wonder if he's really from earth or just insane. As far as I can tell, you're too clever to be insane," the Doctor smiled then, "so I figured you must be an alien, which would make a lot of sense," she added, glancing at the deceased robot.

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed, looking at it too.

"So, what's a time lord?"

"It's the race of alien I am," the Doctor replied, seemingly absently. He hoped she wouldn't pry any further.

"But, what does that mean?" she inquired.

"Bree, now is not the time to play 20 questions, all right?"

Bree nodded, despite his outer calmness and gentility, she felt that the Doctor really did not want to talk about who he was, so much so that Bree was not going to press him about it.

"Good, now then, fancy an adventure?" he grinned faintly in preparation for the next adrenaline rush.

"An adventure? _Now?_" Bree raised a quizzical brow.

"Yes now," he answered giving her a mildly condescending look of shock, "no time like the present," his grin deepened.

"But it's the middle of the night; I'm not even dressed, what about my parents ... ?" she began to rattle off a list of a hundred reasons why she couldn't do exactly what she'd been secretly hoping for since he tumbled through her mirror.

The Doctor, seeing that it would take all night to reassure her, threw his head back in a dramatic eye roll and grabbed her hand, "Come on!" he called and pulled her through the mirror at a gallop.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Bree's mouth fell open now, "Wh-where are we?"

"An abandoned space ship, just off the Medusa Cascade," the Doctor answered matter-of-factly.

"Dude…" Bree's lips shaped themselves into a wide grin, "this is freaking awesome!"

The Doctor raised a judgmental eyebrow at her, "Well, at least it's not text language," he muttered to himself, they strode around the TARDIS, which Bree had yet to notice. "Seen any of our robot friends yet?"

"Um, no, will we? And, what… is… that?" she asked, turning around and pointing at the TARDIS.

The Doctor stuck his head out from behind it, huge smile slapped on, "It's my TARDIS," he announced cheerily.

"And… what's a TARDIS?" she asked, coming up to it to lay a hand against it, "because I'm guessing it's not actually a police call box."

"Oh, you're very good," he appraised her, "but you're right it isn't. TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, T-A-R-D-I-S, this is what let's me travel through time and space," he came back around and leaned against it, smirking at her.

"This thing?" she was shocked, "but… it's… wood, isn't it?" She was quickly finding that she couldn't trust anything about the Doctor. For all she knew, he might even change how he looks.

The Doctor was very impressed with Bree's capacity to immediately doubt every fact she'd ever known, a little scared too, but mostly impressed and wondered why his previous companions hadn't caught on so fast. 'Maybe it comes with being younger,' he thought. He continued smirking at her, then noticed something.

"Bree, I'd love to let you look inside and all that jazz, but right now we have to RUN!" And so shouting, he grabbed her hand and dodged around the robot that had been just about to slice her head off.

"What the…? These things are _armed_?" Bree screeched, doing her best to keep you with the significantly taller, not to mention shod, Doctor.

"Yes, and deadly," he pelted down a corridor, dragging Bree along with him as the sounds of more robots followed.

"You never said anything about danger!"

"All adventures are dangerous!" he retorted. "And why can't you keep up?"

"I'm not wearing any shoes!"

"Why aren't you wearing any shoes?"

"Because I wasn't aware I'd be running for my life tonight! If I had I might have thought ahead to, say, get dressed?!"

The Doctor glanced back at her, "You are dressed."

"In pajamas, not really adventure clothes."

"This way!" and the Doctor ducked a hard left and whipped out his sonic screwdriver to unlock a closet, then squeezed Bree and himself inside and locked it behind them.

He tucked the screwdriver away, "Nonsense, ever heard of Arthur Dent? Spent his whole adventure wearing nothing, but his pajamas, a robe, and his towel. And I myself once defeated a Sycorax king in a sword fight wearing nothing but pajamas, I lost my hand, but I grew another one. And that hand has come in handy, ha!" he laughed at his own pun.

Bree blinked quizzically at the Doctor and decided it was best to disregard everything he said after 'pajamas, a robe, and his towel'. "Sorry," he apologized when he saw that Bree wasn't laughing. "And those pajamas weren't even mine," he added.

"Not yours? You were fighting some alien king in someone else's pajamas? …_why?_ Wait; hold on, I think I don't want to know…" Bree shook her head, trying to forget the images of the Doctor in lingerie, oddly she had imagined him not looking entirely bad in Victoria's Secret, but only if it was all lace and frills.

The Doctor immediately corrected her assumption, "What?! No, no no no no no, not ever, never ever ever, no, they were just borrowed because I don't have any of my own, and they were most definitely _male_ pajamas."

Bree whistled at his overreaction, "Okay, whatever you say Doctor."

"_Ever_," he added with emphasis. "Now, how do we get out without using that door?"

"How should I know? By the way, why are we here in the first place?"

"We needed somewhere to hide from the robots, this is the first place I saw," the Doctor answered, confused about the question.

"No, I mean, on this space ship, circling the Medusa Cascade, wasn't it?"

"Oh, right. Well, I was hoping to find their master so I could question him about why they're after you and then help him find another way to do it, which usually ends up in him dying unfortunately," the Doctor sighed and glanced wryly at the floor, he deplored killing.

"Oh, okay, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't running for my life on a whim."

"Why, are you not having a good time?"

Bree's tongue wagged, "I'm locked inside a tiny closet with you while alien robots could come in at any time and kill us." Bree had to bite her tongue to keep from saying 'actually', at the end of that because a steamy little dream just popped into her head, but looking at the Doctor she was quite sure that that was the last thing on his mind.

"I know," he grinned, "Brilliant isn't it?"

Bree blinked at him, his puppy-adorable smile still in place, "Oh what the heck, I'm having the time of my life!"

Bree could have sworn that if she grinned that big her face would have split in two, but this man wasn't human, so she had to make certain allowances.

She smiled bemusedly back at him, privately wondering if all time lords were like him, if they were she might move to… time lord world, or wherever he was from. And why were they called time lords anyway? But that was a train of thought for a not-quite-so-vital situation.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** I'm SO sorry! I COMPLETELY FORGOT about an A/N last chapter! GAH! Right, so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU all my readers! You're brilliant and lovely and wonderful and remind me why I wrote this in the first place. Just, be patient with me. I promise to start updating more regularly now (Since we've got a WAYS to go…)

**Chapter 5:**

"So, we're trying to get out of here without using that door and then find these robots' master, right?"

"Yep," the Doctor nodded, glancing around, "If there were only a rogue console somewhere maybe I could figure out…"

"What about a ventilation shaft?" Bree interrupted, looking above.

The Doctor looked up too, "Oh, no, why is it always ducts?" he sighed and tsk-ed to himself.

"What's wrong with ducts?"

"Oh nothing, except they tend to inflict claustrophobia which leads to an easier panic, especially if you're being chased by possessed Oods through them," the Doctor groaned, which turned into a growl at the end. Even if he had been dangling through a very, very deep pit, Rose had told him about their adventure through the vents while trying to escape the Satan-possessed Ood.

Bree pretended to understand him, "Right…"

"Right, Bree, stand back, this a job for a screwdriver, preferably sonic," he grinned at her before reaching up towards the screw and letting the blue light of the screwdriver shine brightly. "One," he caught the screws as they fell, "two… three, four, oops!" The grate fell on Bree's head.

"Aaaah…" she moaned, rubbing her head.

"Sorry," he apologized, "now up you get," he extended a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her in front of him, then shifted his hands to her waist to lift her up where she could pull herself into the shaft. Bree attempted to ignore how warm and strong his hands felt and scrambled for a grip to heave herself all the way in. "I can't pull myself through," she announced at length, regretfully.

The Doctor set her down, "Are you sure?" He glanced up, "I could fit through there."

Bree felt a bit insulted by this, "Uh!" she articulated, hurt. The Doctor paid no heed and instead hoisted himself up into the metal box. "All right now, Bree, I want you to give me your arms and I'll pull you up, got it?"

"Okay," she answered, having no choice but to trust him. She reached her muscle-lacking arms up to him on tip toe, it wasn't her fault she was only average height. Luckily though, the Doctor was tall and therefore had long arms himself and could reach down enough to pull her in, well, until he ran out of leverage and ended up pulling her all the way on top of him.

"Hi," Bree smiled brilliantly, quite content lying on top of him.

"Get off," the Doctor commanded, pushing himself out from under her. Bree pursed her lips in disappointment and mockingly rolled her eyes at the Doctor behind his back.

"Right, so…" the Doctor, crouched on his hands and knees looked about, "this way," he gestured forward, which also went up, and lead the way.

Bree followed suit with a raised eyebrow, "Any particular reason we're going this way?"

The Doctor would have shrugged, "Just a hunch."

Bree sighed, but conceded to herself that if she had to follow anyone's hunch, she was glad she was following his.

"Ah, here we go!" the Doctor exclaimed after not too long. He pushed the vent grate away and stuck his head up, Bree right behind him. "Oh…" the Doctor said unhelpfully, finding that they were surrounded by the clockwork robots, each with a threatening looking blade stuck out at them.

"Bad hunch," Bree whispered. "Yeah, um, RUN!" the Doctor shouted and whipped out the sonic screwdriver.

Bree ducked back into the tunnel, "I think you mean crawl," she shouted back, but shuffled forward as fast as she dared before setting her pajamas alight. "Crawl faster then!" called the Doctor, not far behind just as Bree heard an explosion.

"What was that?" she shrieked. "I heated up the computer… sonic screwdrivers, not just for fixing," the Doctor had by now reached her and Bree had the opportunity to look back and catch his blindingly gleeful face.

"Keep going!" the Doctor reminded her sharply. "Oh fine," she stomped a bit in her crawling, and unfortunately, stomped on the wrong part of the vent because it gave way and now she and the Doctor were sliding down a metal chute.

"AAAAAH!" they screamed in unison, sliding very quickly down somewhere unknown. And then a heart-stopping drop to the floor below, 'oof', and it was all over.

The time the Doctor fell on top of Bree. "Now, what is this?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"Ack!" was Bree's response, being fairly squished beneath the Doctor. "What? Oh sorry," he got off her and helped her up. Bree gasped, then remarked, "For being so skinny, you sure weigh a lot."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "First thing everyone sees: skinny," he muttered. "So where _are_ we?" Bree asked glancing around.

"Well, I think we've made it to the engine room, or one of them at least," the Doctor walked over to a complicated looking board of knobs and great, big, threatening buttons and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. "This ship is practically in mint condition so they don't need you to repair it," he extrapolated after a moment, returning the screwdriver to his pocket.

"Um, yeah, could you explain why they would need me for that?" Bree decided that now would be an appropriate time to ask questions.

The Doctor turned to her, "Last time I saw these robots, and these might even be the same robots although I don't know how that could happen, they were repairing their ship using pieces of people, including the brain of one girl from 18th century France, well, tried to."

Bree blinked, "Well… glad to know that's not why they want me," she winced thinking about a ship made out of people.

"Well, now that that's cleared up, want to go look for their master or find a way out?"

Bree yawned at him, "Under the circumstances of being chased by deadly robots and having school tomorrow, I vote we get out. If it was the weekend though, I'd follow you all over," Bree grinned at him.

The Doctor actually cracked a smile in return, "All right," the Doctor looked down either way they could go. "Okay, this way," he said and took off to the left.

"Wait," Bree called as she began to follow, "why this way?"

The Doctor shrugged, "Another hunch?" Bree stared at him, "No," she said flatly, "no more hunches. There has to be a reason why we're going this way or we're going the other way."

"Why?" the Doctor inquired, hurt.

"Because your last hunch led us straight to them," Bree retorted in an accusatory tone.

"Nah, that was just a bad hunch, c'mon!" he grabbed her hand, forcing her along, "This way!"

Bree moaned, but ran alongside him anyway. And they jogged on for awhile until; lo and behold, they ran into another robot. "What'd I tell you?" Bree glared at him half-heartedly. "It's only one," the Doctor retorted, "Right, you robot."

The robot halted its' approach, sharp implement extended.

"Yes you, what're you up to, why are you down here, all of your mates are upstairs running around looking for us, that's not what you're doing."

The robot answered promptly, "I run the engines."

"Oh, so you have your own unique job, eh? Different from your other little friends? Then maybe you can answer a question, your master needs her, Bree," he gestured to Bree, "why? What's special about Bree?" he phrased the question carefully to avoid having the robot self-destruct like last time.

The robot cocked its head in that disturbing fashion the other one had, "She is the last one."

"What? The last one what? What is she?" the Doctor pestered.

"She is the last one," the robot repeated obstinately.

The Doctor groaned, "Oh come on, what do you mean the last one? You mean all of the rest of her kind are dead?"

"Yes," the robot answered.

The Doctor looked gob smacked; he hadn't actually expected an answer to that question, "How could… she isn't…" he glanced at Bree worriedly then back to the robot, "What is she then, tell me what she is; why does your master need her?" he asked furiously. But the robot was smoking, you could hear the gears inside gyrating in frenzy, but they soon came to an untimely stop and the robot fell forward.

Bree swallowed, "What did it mean? What's it talking about, last of my kind?"

"I don't know, Bree," the Doctor answered truthfully, his dark eyes were fraught with anxiety though.

There were only a select number of species in this time frame that were extinct or near extinction, and even fewer could pass as humanoids, in fact, there was only one and he was it. So what was she?

"Well, I think we'd better get back to the TARDIS as soon as possible then, allons y!" The Doctor took her hand again and led her onwards.

"Okay Doctor," she agreed, "but when we get there, I want some questions answered."

The Doctor signed, "Bree, I really don't know what that robot meant. If I did, I would tell you."

"No, not about me, about you. Who are you? What's a Time Lord? Where are you from? What about the TARDIS? How does it travel in time?"

The Doctor groaned loudly, "Questions, questions, questions, always pestering me with questions," the Doctor gave up, "fine, I'll tell you what you want to know, but we have to get there first."

"Good," Bree smiled. And in a relatively short amount of time with only one more minor run-in with the robots, Bree and the Doctor arrived back at the TARDIS.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Still reading, my loyal fans? Bravo! :D Er... not a very exciting chapter, truth be told, but the next one will be nice, I think :P.

**Chapter 6:**

"Okay Bree, be prepared for the sight of your life," the Doctor forewarned, about to open the TARDIS doors.

"Oh, I'm ready," she stated confidently, almost hyper with anticipation.

"All right…" and the Doctor flung open the TARDIS door for her.

"Dude…" was her first reaction upon seeing the cavernous control room inside a box not much bigger than a closet. "I mean, whoa…" she continued, wandering in, "this is freakin' awesome!" Then she looked up and saw the many levels above her, "Oh my GOD! WOW! This is so sweet! How is this even possible?" she turned to the Doctor, "you have to tell me how this works because this defies all laws of physics, matter, whatever. Newton's got it all wrong here!"

"Well, gravity still applies," the Doctor pointed out, "and this is Time Lord technology, it's bigger on the inside," he summarized for her.

"So this is the way all your stuff works?"

The Doctor shrugged, "Generally, I suppose."

"Right, so," Bree plunked down on a seat near the control module, "let's start with question number one: who are you?"

The Doctor leaned on the console nearby where Bree sat, "I told you, I'm a Time Lord, my name's the Doctor."

"So what's a Time Lord?"

"It's a race of aliens from the planet Galifrey," he sighed, "Time Lords are some of the oldest members of this universe. On Galifrey, we watched all the other worlds, guided at times, but never interfered with outside affairs. You see Bree, the reason we're called Time Lords is not just because we travel through time, but because we see time. All of it, past, present, and future; it's constantly running through our heads, everything, everywhere, except our own specific time lines."

Bree was star-struck. "You… you can see… time?" she asked in a very small voice.

"Yep," the Doctor replied.

"How?" she asked in disbelief, "my brain would explode having that much stuff in it."

"Time Lord brains are built differently, we're meant to see all of it."

"Wow… and tell me about Galifrey, what is your planet like? Can we go there?"

The Doctor hated this inevitable question, no matter how long it had been, it was still heart-wrenchingly painful, "No," he answered very quietly.

"Why?" Bree asked cautiously, noting the tortured expression on the Doctor's face, even though he was facing the ground.

"It's gone," he whispered.

"Gone?" Bree watched him worriedly.

"There was a war, terrible time war. Everything was destroyed, everything…" the Doctor trailed off into silence. Bree gently got up from her seat and stood very close to the Doctor. She lifted a hand and rubbed his back in a sympathetic gesture, as she was unsure how he would react to a hug.

"Everything," he continued, having recovered himself in Bree's therapeutic massage, "except who we were fighting, it seems, the Daleks," he turned to her then, "You've seen them."

Bree blinked at him, "I have? When?"

"A few months ago, the whole planet got moved… and there were those strange robot creatures with the eerie voices…"

"Oh! I remember… they were horrible, they… they took over your planet? Is that what they were trying to do with the Earth?" Bree's heart shuddered in fear. She remembered them quite clearly, now that she had a name to go with the picture. She remembered how they cruelly blasted anyone who stood against them. Her family had been lucky, living on such a small street, they went unnoticed, but she heard the screams all night long…

"No. Sadly, no… they wanted the Earth for something much worse, a reality bomb."

"A what?"

"Reality bomb… it's a bomb made of a single string of zed-neutrino energy that would dissolve every atom in the universe."

"My god… and, they would do that? These Daleks… they would destroy the entire universe? …why?" Her voice cracked a little thinking about the utterly complete decimation of everything, the unending nothingness where once there was so much… something!

"Their goal, their lives' sole purpose is to be the supreme beings of the universe and if there's nothing else out there…"

"But… wouldn't that bomb have been suicide? If it destroys every atom of reality that has to include themselves."

The Doctor sighed, then replied darkly, "Daleks are geniuses, but they're also fanatical."

Bree swallowed carefully and nodded, understanding perfectly about the unreasonableness of any fanatic. At length she sighed, "I'm so, so sorry Doctor."

"Sorry?" he snorted regaining a little humor, "for what?"

"For what they must have put you through."

The Doctor swallowed too, "Thanks Bree."

Bree just nodded at him, concentrating on keeping a handle on her composure.

The Doctor inhaled for courage, then took a chance, "Bree… would you travel with me?"

"What?" she blinked at him, confused at the sudden change of topic.

"I hate traveling alone. So I bring friends with me, companions."

"Why don't you have any now?" Bree asked, getting nervous.

"Because they had to leave. They didn't really want to, but… sometimes it's just necessary," he looked at her with sad brown eyes, the ones that showed you that he had seen so much death, that he had suffered so much.

Bree bit her lip, "I'm sorry," she repeated, she didn't know what else to say. There was so little that you could say to someone that had such universal sadness.

The Doctor shrugged, looking away, "It happens, I should be used to it by now, but…"

"Do you ever see them again?"

"No… well, sometimes, not too often though."

"So… it's like they've died and they've left you all alone"

The Doctor's hearts lurched at the cruel irony of the first part and the utter truth of the second, "Yeah, something like that."

Bree frowned, "Well… I…" she sighed, her half-hearted reluctance was quickly being done away with by the prospects of this wonderful man she'd found. The Doctor looked up at her hopefully. She caught his eye and sighed again, all reasoning against joining him completely done away with, "Oh, what the hell, I'd love to come!"

He beamed at her, "Brilliant!" He loved having a new companion. "So," he started off, excitement quickly overtaking his momentary grief, he was not one to linger in sadness, "how about the grand tour?"


End file.
